Two weekends in Tullamore, three days of exciting athletics, 55 Leevale athletes returned home with 31 medals, PBs and some well-earned downtime…well maybe a few days anyway, then back to it!!
Field
Pole Vault: Competing in their first outdoor National Championships for Pole Vault the u15 girls Maebh Bannon (2.35m) and Olive Burger (2.25m) hit their PBs finishing fourth and fifth respectively in a competition which saw a championship best performance. The u16 girls saw Grainne Cronin take silver (2.35m) followed up by a bronze for Lucie Healy in the u17 girls (2.75m). Then came Una Brice defending her national championship title with a CBP of 3.55 in the u19 girls. For the boys Oscar Naughton finished in third in the u15s (2.75m), Alex Neff taking joint gold in the u16s and Alex Ademola vaulting his way to a silver medal in the u19s (3.20m). A particular mention for Josh Fitzgerald in the u18s. Having secured gold with a vault of 3.70m, Josh landed badly and was injured. Josh is home now and recovering and all of us at the Club wish him a speedy recovery and we look forward to seeing him launching himself over the bar again in the near future.
High Jump: As a club we are seeing some very talented high jumpers come through, a credit to the commitment of their Coaches. In the u14 girls Grace Wixted (1.45m) missed out on a medal on countback with Noelle Mulcahy unfortunately unable to make it on the day. In the u15 boys Ryan Onoh tool silver with fantastic 1.85m with Ben O’Brien finishing in 9th jumping 1.45m.
Long Jump: In the u14 girls Caitlin Hancock hit a fabulous PB of 5.05m and a 5th place position. Ryan continued his fantastic jumping form taking gold with 5.93m. For the u15 girls Caoimhe Daly jumped a new PB of 5.39m to take gold eulating Okwu Backari’s gold in the u17 girls with 5.53m. in the u18 girls Gabriella Bowen finished in 7th with 4.94m.
Triple Jump: Not an event for the faint hearted Orla O’Sullivan took silver for the u17 girls with 10.76m while Gabriella Bowen finished in 5th place for the u18 girls with 9.73m.
Discus: For the u15 boys Oscar Naughton threw a magnificent 35.06m to take gold; in the u17 boys Chris Furlong (21.00m) and Garry O’Donovan (18.63m) finished in 7th and 8th. In the u18s David Scanlon (37.78m) and Kate Naughton (29.14) each took a bronze medal home for the boys and girls.
Javelin: Oscar took the stage for another of his three appearances at Nationals this year to take fifth place for the u15 boys (37.23m) while Andrew Scanlon launched the javelin 54.81m to take gold in the u17 boys.
Shot Putt: Across three age groups we had 5 athletes taking to the circle. For the u17 girls Briana Onoh took gold with a throw of 13.20m with Chris Furling finishing in eight place for boys with 9.12m. in the u18s Kate Naughton stepped in with a throw of 8.30m and a ninth place finish and then in the u19s boys Alex Ademolo (11.31m) and Joseph Bamidele (11.20m) took 4th and 5th.
Track
100m: Four of our u15s made it to Nationals this year and all four made their respective finals. For the girls Faye Scriven and Caoimhe Daly made their presence felt finishing 2nd and 3rd in their heats. Caoimhe took bronze in the final (12.91s) with Faye in 8th (13.21s). Anthony Goggin and Tyreek Bannon stormed into the final in 12.22s and 12.33s respectively. Anthony took bronze in the final as well in 12.22 with Tyreek just behind him in fourth (12.38s). the u16 girls across the country are a very competitive group so this was always going to be a close one; in the end Sophie Mulcahy and Elena O’Sullivan raced into the final in 12.69s and 12.64s; the final saw Elena take Silver in 12.70s and Sophie take bronze in 12.74s. As always the u17s girls is a fight to the finish; both Abbie Dorney (13.13s) and Fatima Amusa (12.46s) made the final with Fatima taking silver in 12.50s; Abbie had the unfortunate honour of breaking – Fatima will be delighted it wasn’t her this time! In the u17 boys Chris Furlong (12.58) and John Cashman (12.01) came 5th and fourth in their respective heats just missing out on the final. Igor Marczak, Samuel Collins, Colin Murphy, Conor Callinan and Yasin Salim Said all lined up for the u19 boys. Colin, Conor and Yasin made it through to the final finishing in 4th (11.26s), 5th(11.45s) and 7th (11.75s) respectively.
200m: Our u14s were representing by Caitlin Hancock for the girls and Ronan Keenan for the boys. Both made their finals. While Caitlin smashed her PB to take silver in 26.13s, Ronan raced through to take fifth in 25.40s. In the u15 girls Faye Scriven made her final finishing 6thimproving her time from the heats by over half a second (26.80s). Ryan for the boys finished in an agonising fourth in 24.67s. In the u16s Sophie Mulcahy broker her PB twice but determined to improve on her third place finish in the heats took silver in 25.55s in a final where 7 out of the 8 went under 26 seconds. For the u17 girls Fatima, Abbie and Zoe made the final. In one of the most exciting 200s of the day Fatima took bronze in 24.91s (PB), Abbie finished in 5th(26.21s) and Zoe finished 8th (27.01s). Yasin and Colin made another final for the u19 boys; Colin finished fourth this time in 22.61s and Yasin in 6th in 22.92s.
400m: Zoe lined up for the 400s on day 2 making the final for the u17 girls and keeping her time under the minutes once again, finishing 5th in 59.09s. Ciara O’Mahony was unable to take the place she earned in the u19 final.
60m/80m Hurdles: On day 1 our u13 boys of Rahman Amusa and Ethan Bambury attacked the 60m hurdles. While Ethan missed out on the final this time around Rahman finished third in his heat to take his place in the final, finishing 6th in 10.78s. Increasing the distance to 80m Anthony Goggin and Michael Scott hurdled their way into the u15 boys final in 12.79s and 13.47s respectively. In the final Anthony took .12 seconds off his time to take a bronze medal while Michael took 0.32s off his time to finish 6th. For the girls Sintija Sarkovska took off from her blocks but just missed out on a place in the final.
100m/110m Hurdles: In the u17 girls Okwu Backari continued to show her immense potential taking silver in 15.14s while for the u19 boys Conor Callinan just missed out on a podium place finishing fourth in 15.71s.
250m Hurdles: The torture that is long hurdling saw Michael Scott and Ellie Vaughan-Reddan take to the track for the u15 boys and u16 girls. Both made their finals with Michael finishing in 6th (36.21s) and Ellie finishing eighth (41.39s).
800m: Looking to Louise Shanahan for inspiration we had 8 athletes across 4 age groups take to the track. In the u14 girls Kate O’Donovan was rewarded with all her hard work with a place in the final and a bronze in 2:22.15. Ronan Keenan and Luke Merrigan lined up for the boys with Ronan finishing 5th (2:15.46 and Luke in 13th (2:27.39). In the u15 girls Lauren Dinan and Ella Dinan finished 4th (2:19.41) and 13th (2:31.86) respectively. In the u17 girls Nicole Dinan and Zoe Conway took gold (2:16.00) and silver (2:17.02) as this fantastic rivalry take shape. Finally Katie O’Keeffe in 2:24.94 took 5th for the u18 girls.
1500m: Just as they did on day 1, Lauren Dinan and Ella Dinan lined up again, this time finishing in 5th(4:52.68) and 8th (5:02.86). Their sister Nicole took gold again for the u17s in 4:39.04. In the u19 boys Daniel Buckley finished in 5th in 4:08.88.
3000m: Last but not least Claire Crowley set herself the challenge of the 3k. Determined not to go home empty handed Claire took bronze in 10:16.76.
All in all another extremely successful National Juvenile Championships for our Club. The Juvenile section says goodbye to our u19s as they transition into the u20s and Senior ranks. As a Club our athletes show time and again their maturity and professionalism that belies their ages and we are humbled by their continuing commitment and dedication. Relays next…
Day 1 Results HERE
Day 2 Results: HERE
